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Former BPD officer indicted for alleged assault after St. Patrick’s Day parade
A man was left beaten and bloody in South Boston earlier this year. Christopher Cunniff faces two counts of assault and battery.
A former Boston police officer was indicted last week and faces two charges of assault and battery for allegedly beating an intoxicated man after the St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston earlier this year.
Christopher Cunniff, 59, of Quincy, was issued a suspension order from the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission, which is responsible for overseeing law enforcement officers.
He was indicted by a grand jury in Suffolk Superior Court. Cunniff faces two felony charges of aggravated assault and battery. One involves a dangerous weapon, a shod foot.
He was initially set to be arraigned Wednesday, but the arraignment was pushed back to July 10, according to court documents. Records do not indicate who is representing Cunniff in court.
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Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office is prosecuting the case. The BPD did not return a request for comment.
Cunniff retired soon after learning that the Suffolk DA and the BPD’s anti-corruption division were investigating him, a spokesperson for Hayden’s office told Boston.com. He was a sergeant detective assigned to the department’s domestic violence unit.
The incident in question occurred on March 16 while Cunniff was off-duty. He allegedly left the beaten man in a South Boston driveway, the spokesperson said.
When police arrived at the scene on Athens Street, they found a man lying on the ground covered in blood, according to a police report provided to the The Boston Globe. The victim had contusions on his face and head. His left eye was swollen. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
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Cunniff has apparently faced disciplinary actions for misconduct in recent years, according to POST Commission records. In 2022, he was disciplined for violating the BPD’s substance abuse policy, and in 2024, Cunniff was reprimanded for using “inappropriate language during a traffic stop.”
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